Filmmaker Rory Kennedy To Receive Pennebaker Award At Critics Choice Documentary Awards

Oscar-nominated filmmaker Rory Kennedy will receive the prestigious Pennebaker Award at the upcoming Critics Choice Documentary Awards in New York, honoring a director whose body of work includes Ethel, a film about her late mother, Ethel Kennedy, as well as Last Days in Vietnam and Ghosts of Abu Ghraib.

The award, named for the late pioneer of direct cinema D.A. Pennebaker, will be presented by filmmaker Chris Hegedus, Pennebaker’s widow, as the Critics Choice Documentary Awards celebrates its 9th annual event. The ceremony will be held November 10 at the Edison Ballroom in Manhattan.

“Rory Kennedy is an Academy Award-nominated, Primetime Emmy-winning documentary filmmaker,” the Critics Choice Association writes in a release. “She has made over 40 films, including Downfall: The Case Against Boeing (Netflix), Last Days in Vietnam (American Experience), and Ethel (HBO), all of which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. Her film, The Volcano: Rescue From Whakaari, was the #1 Netflix film in the world during its release week in December, 2022. Kennedy most recently directed and produced The Synanon Fix, an HBO docu-series about the long celebrated addiction treatment center that transformed over the decades into an organization engaging in cult-like activity. Her films have appeared on networks and streamers including Netflix, HBO, National Geographic and Hulu. She has appeared on The Daily Show, The Today Show, CNN, and NPR. Kennedy served two terms as Governor of AMPAS and is a founding member of Climate Emergency Fund.”

Kennedy is the youngest child of the late Robert F. Kennedy. Her mother, Ethel Kennedy, passed away earlier this month at the age of 96. Rory Kennedy and her husband Mark Bailey founded and run Moxie Films, based in Los Angeles.

The 9th Annual Critics Choice Awards will be hosted by actor Erich Bergen. The CCA announced a distinguished group of presenters today, including Bridget Moynahan (Blue Bloods), Lorraine Toussaint (The Equalizer), Ken Leung (Industry), Ali Wentworth (Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields), Lauren Greenfield (Social Studies), Michael Cyril Creighton (Only Murders in the Building), Daphne Rubin-Vega (Only Murders in the Building) and R.J. Cutler (Elton John: Never Too Late, Martha).

The CCA also announced that Chelsea Clinton and Amanda Zurawski will also participate as presenters on behalf of their new documentary, Zurawski v Texas. The film “follows a group of women, led by Amanda Zurawski, who were denied access to healthcare and decided to band together with a fearless attorney from the Center for Reproductive Rights to sue the state of Texas.”

The Critics Choice Documentary Awards will be live streamed on Facebook, YouTube, and X. Viewing links will be available on the Critics Choice Association website at 7:00 PM ET on Sunday, November 10.